On Rad's Radar? - privacy Archives

Privacy versus Security

2012-01-25T20:51:22Z

"Concerned about privacy? Maybe you should be concerned about the economy instead. That was the subtext of a keynote speech by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, at a technology conference in the heart of Europe." [Benton]

Not to get political, but privacy is a ship that has sailed. Google, Facebook and other sites track online activities. Credit card companies and Paypal can track both offline and online activities. CarrierIQ software on cell phones is able to see every keystroke. GPS tracking on devices, including your TomTom. Cellphone and Internet logging by ISP's for government agencies track you.

I'm not suggesting we just give up on privacy. I am suggesting that we take the advice of Sandberg and start focusing on the important stuff. Maybe Security is the Important stuff.

When Wikipedia went dark in the face of SOPA and PIPA bills, it caused many supporters in DC to publicly back away. Privately, however, they will back TransPacific Partnership, ACTA and other bills. Why? Hollywood and content companies want it. Just another example of industry influence over voters or common sense in DC.

In the midst of the privacy talk, why isn't there more talk about security? The latest breach at Zappos affected 24 million. Laptops and cellphones are lost daily. Experts agree that mobile threats and breaches are inevitable. We don't need more rules or laws, we have plenty now, including HIPAA and PCI DSS. We need enforcement and monitoring - or really big fines.

There are simple methods for security available, it might be time to do so. "

""I am angry. There are real problems facing the world, and we, as a society, are not doing enough to address them in the right ways, not the ways we know are possible. The old way isn't working, and we know it." This is the opening paragraph to a new ChangeThis manifesto titled Shift & Reset by Brian Reich. "What might be possible if we were really committed, as individuals and as a society?"

From another ChangeThis manifesto, "The real business opportunity is to become more relevant and meaningful to customers in ways that create sales."

Lots of News (I Can't Cover in Detail)

2011-12-05T21:30:14Z

Dag Peak explains the difference between BroadTouch and BroadCloud by BSFT.

That Carrier IQ key logging software has Sprint and AT&T caught in lawsuits. This privacy issue reminds me of the cigarette suits -- keep suing and when you win one, you crack the whole thing open and huge sweeping change must follow. So lawyers start your engines and get out those lawsuits! (Like I have to tell you to.)

Obama names new FCC nominees for Senate approval. Copps is term limited and Meredith Baker left for a lucrative job at Comcast! (No conflict of interest there, just part of the revolving door in DC.)

CenturyLink adds broadband caps to compete better with Cox, who does too.

I'm still working on my blog post about this: FCC Releases Connect America Fund Order, Reforms USF/ICC for Broadband

It's a week where SAP feels like Ron Paul, because its cloud acquisition got about 90 seconds of space. AT&T has to feel like Herman Cain, after the FCC released its report about why the cellular merger was a no-go. Is VZW like Romney for quietly scooping up the cableco spectrum AND getting them to sell VZW services?! T-Mobile is quietly in the corner like Bachmann trying to figure out the next move.

UPDATE: new Sprint MVNO coming from Tucows called Ting.

Cell Phones Offer No Privacy

2011-11-30T21:09:46Z

Beyond the fact that radio frequencies can be listened to with Radio Shack parts - I'm not even talking NSA spycraft here - two reports out this week show that malware is present and accounted for on cell phones. Awesome, right? I mean, how long did that even take?

One article details how the IEEE has found that as many as 2000 free smartphone apps carry malware. Who says free is good?

Smartphones are a gateway to corporate information, email, data on applications, passwords and more.This is one more issue that corporate IT has to deal with.

Last week, an Android developer named Trevor Eckhart revealed that Carrier IQ had installed a rootkit on smartphones that logs user keystrokes. "The new video Eckhart released, however, shows that the software also reports the content of text messages and even logs encrypted web searches," reports TJS. There is no way to turn the software off either.

"If this flap doesn't make people wake-up to the need for better privacy laws regarding what information tech companies can collect without user permission, we're not sure what will."

FCC's Small Biz Cyber Planner

2011-11-18T17:50:31Z

There is a whole lot of truth to this statement from the FCC: "American small businesses are key drivers of innovation, economic growth and job creation. Small businesses employ more than HALF of all private sector workers, and they have generated about two-thirds of net new jobs over the past 15 years. Small businesses drive innovation, producing 13 times more patents per employee than large firms."

The FCC goes on to explain that "Broadband and information technology is increasingly important to the success of our economy, to jobs and to the future of small business. Broadband connectivity and online business tools are powerful factors in small businesses reaching new markets, increasing productivity and efficiency, and generating economic growth. A recent study found that having a broadband connection makes a $200,000 a year difference in median annual revenues for businesses."

When you couple that with the ever increasing number of hacks - whether for identity theft or credit card numbers or corporate data - cyber-security becomes important. Add IP-PBX and VoIP lines to the mix and security isn't something that should be forgotten or left off due to the budget line expense. But it does. And it has a cost.

The FCC, as part of National Cyber-Security Month, joined with the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and several corporate executives to unveil a new FCC online tool-- the Small Biz Cyber Planner. "The planner is an easy-to-use, free online tool that will create a customized planning guide to help small businesses protect themselves from cyber-security threats."

Symantec and The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) released results of a survey finding that only 52% of small businesses have a cyber-security plan or strategy. That's not really surprising because most think it won't happen to me. Yet the statistic remains that a new computer attached to the Internet takes less than 20 minutes to be attacked.

"The survey also found 77% of small businesses do not have a formal Internet security policy for employees." This is an example of how you can help your clients by pointing this out and having a discussion about security measures - even simple ones like password management and usage. And as data moves to the Cloud, access security via devices becomes more troubling and requires written policies in place that are closely followed.

3 Bills That ISP's Need to Be Aware of

2011-11-18T17:03:30Z

In DC, there are bills moving through Congress that will affect the ISP business.

The Protect IP Act and the companion Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and H.R. 1981, the ISP Data-Retention Bill.

The ISP Data-Retention bill would require Internet Service Providers such as Comcast or AT&T to retain the personal information of its users for up to 18 months. PC Mag has a nice write up here. It passed House committee in July.

All of these bills come with the propaganda that it is to stop child porn and for national security. Actually, it is to help out the MPAA and RIAA, who want help to stop piracy. Some think that it is a violation of the 4th Amendment, but the US Congress has been chipping away at the Constitution since 9/11 for their money men.

Even Lifehacker is tracking what is going on with SOPA. You might have seen the American Censorship Day emails and facebook status updates. People need to understand that the Internet is a loosely connected network of computers and devices that no one group controls and is based on Trust. Even Peering is based on private agreements. The Internet is a huge communications network that has been running smoothly without government interference. Any disruption, as OpenDNS discusses here, will lead to unintended consequences that will not be good for our service economy. How can we spend $4B on building more broadband networks to build the economy AND mess with the foundation of that very network???

Even Fred Wilson, famous VC, rails against it.

As an ISP, I would suggest that you take a look at these 3 bills - that are moving through Congress!!! - and talk to your Congress Critters!

What Will You Be Selling in 2012?

2011-11-16T14:18:51Z

Most channel executives will tell you that the 2 biggest products for 2012 will be MPLS and SIP. It makes sense since the PSTN is being phased out as the telecom infrastructure turns to an all-IP network. It also makes sense that not all traffic can travel (safely, securely or timely) on the Internet, so MPLS becomes the WAN solution for control and privacy.

Ethernet will be the product of choice. No more T1. Everyone is going to want an Ethernet hand-off at 10MB, 100MB or a GigE. Even Telarus has added Ethernet to its GeoQuote tool. XO, TelePacific, MegaPath, Paetec and Mammoth Networks have all announced EoC (Ethernet over copper wires) availability. [Now if all 5 carriers had a shared database for EoC availability THAT would be worthwhile.]

Of course, we will hear all about Cloud services from every carrier, including Cbeyond and Integra Telecom. We will hear cloud a million times in 2012. Maybe the conversation will turn to Cloud Differentiation. IN other words, what kind of Cloud are you selling? Is it redundant, resilient, duplicated, backed up, SAS 70, PCI Compliant and secure? How so?

But Cloud means that we will be hearing about Managed Services, especially Managed Security. EarthLink has been talking up its Managed Security offering for its MPLS customers. Integra Telecom launched its Cloud Firewall Service at ITEXPO. Netwolves has been selling this kind of stuff for years. Even TelePacific is jumping in this space (of managed security) due to its recent acquisition of Telekenex.

The question really becomes: What will the Channel sell?

Agents will continue selling POTS, T1, PRI, broadband - but what will be the breakout product for them?

Will it be cellular? If so, it will likely be 3G/4G backup for broadband.

Will it be Ethernet? Probably, because it can be sold as a replacement service for T1. (But agents will need to learn how to sell DIA over broadband, which many will likely not even try.)

And selling SIP trunking as a PRI replacement is currently happening. however, Agents need to remember that they need to check for interoperability between the SIP provider and the PBX (or customer equipment).

The Cloud folks wish that Agents would sell their stuff, but I don't see that under the Christmas tree this year for them. Maybe 2013.

It's Monday So Lots Happened

2011-10-17T17:21:24Z

Polycom bought Vivu, a video collaboration company, to help Polycom push it's Presence gear. Video, video, video. Yet I never have video calls or video call requests. To me, I wish you would work on the phone part. Give me a great looking phone that is easy to use and where the voice quality is awesome. Can you do that? Not really.

All the companies in this space are running to the Video. Why? Deployment and usage are challenging enough without trying to hook up video and make myself presentable. Fax over IP and HD Voice are still just a promise - and video conferencing off platform doesn't work.

It's kind of like talking about Cloud or UC, you are hoping for a stock bump or a PR bump.

Folks are at the Broadsoft show today being introduced by a 3D presentation. Then they will be peppered with alcohol to dull their senses so they can listen to BSFT talk about Video Conferencing (iLinc acquisition) through BroadWorks (Don't get your own; Buy more licenses from us!). Then I'm sure it will be about Mobility and Integration from the vendors that ponied up big $$$ to pitch their wares.

The one thing that gets lost in all this: there are too many VoIP Providers in the marketplace (over 1100 in the US alone). All of them are still trying to figure out how to sell more seats! Sure, they can sell SIP trunks but that is low margin commodity business. Hosted PBX is a higher margin (if sold correctly) business that is about to heat up as the cable giants - Comcast and Cox - roll it out nationwide and give away access in the sale. How does a Hosted PBX provider who doesn't own a network compete then?

And selling UC&C (unified comm and collab) mixed with video is a specialized sale. First, you need a base of Hosted PBX clients and a set procedure for deployment and on-boarding customers. Then you can have a process to upsell or chase a specialized market.

Meanwhile, we are all waiting for the FCC to make some decision on both USF Reform and Inter-Carrier Compensation. ICC will actually change the VoIP market a little. Not that anyone noticed, but the TRA is now a requirement for Inter-Connected VoIP Providers. Why not utilize the video and collaboration components to solve TRA and Communications for Disabilities? Then at least you would have a hot button.

I was going to rant about USF Reform -- like how we should kill the whole program -- like that would ever happen -- because spending tax money to outfit rural areas with broadband is kind of crazy, in my opinion. And its only 15 million Americans. How many will actually buy broadband? Maybe 67%? So 10 million? At a cost of 15% of the bill every month? That's crazy.

Anyway, on to M2M. Sprint is big in Machine-to-Machine wireless solutions and "has targeted four high-growth segments as the umbrella focus of its M2M development activities and offerings: Connected Transportation; Connected Meters, Sensors & Alarms; Connected Machines, Screens & Things; and Connected Personal Devices." [pr] Meanwhile, Sprint is hoping the iPhone bouys up their subscribers.

VZ is getting into home energy monitoring and testing 3G/4G networks nationwide. I'm sure that it will be an unbiased study of the 3G/4G world (MetroPCS, AT&T, T-Mobile, Cricket, Sprint and VZW).

And in another blow to privacy, VZW "has made a change in its privacy policy that clears the nation's largest wireless carrier to track its subscribers' Web browsing, location and app usage habits," according to the LA Times.

Did you know there is such a thing as Hardware-as-a-Service? Chartec and Outreach offer it in a partnership.

NTS/XFONE grabbed 1800 cable customers in West Texas from Reach Broadband.

ABRY Partners bought data center company XAND, who is either a hosting company or a data center infrastructure company. To tell you the truth, the way these press releases describe the companies involved, I know two things: (1) the PR firm has no clue what they are talking about; (2) the marketing department or firm has no clue what they are talking about either. Keep It Simple!

Tidbits This Week 7-12-11

2011-07-12T19:16:30Z

Masery was bought by ABRY Partners. No word on AboveNet yet.

A group of tech companies - including RIM, Google, Microsoft, EMC, Sony, Ericcson - bought the Nortel patents for $4.5B.

Top ISP's - AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, TWC and others - have joined together to fight piracy by monitoring your online activities. This comes after the announcement that metered bandwidth is coming to both terrestrial and wireless broadband. Can you say DPI? Did you hear that? It was the death cry of any thought you might have of privacy online.

eBay bought mobile payments firm Zong for $240M.

Citrix bought Cloud.com for an estimated $200M.

The Assistant US Attorney General at the DOJ in charge of anti-trust has decided to leave - in the middle of the AT&T/T-Mobile merger review! Looks to me like either someone has been threatened or offered a golden parachute.

Skype works with Facebook, Tom Keating tries it out.

Beth Israel Hospital is suing Verizon for $9M in billing errors.

Craig's Lifetime of Customer Service

2011-06-15T13:43:47Z

Craig Newmark of craigslist spoke at the CoolTech event in Tampa last Friday. It was a good speech from a nerd with a dry sense of geeky humor. (Not everyone got it.) He was doing his best to "simulate social behavior", he said. He had 3 themes that he repeated throughout the talk (that's kind of my style of speaking, too): Customer Service, Doing what's Right, and the Common Good. Craig was introduced by his former attorney, Brett Britton, as a Bad ass. He kind of lives up to it.

Craig offered up a history of social media. It's been around a long time - just the technology has changed (from town cryer to newspapers to books to twitter). Social media has had the same effect throughout the ages though: social change. Martin Luther learned a valuable lesson about social media: You lose control of the message. Today, the Internet is everyone's printing press. Tough to fact check all the stuff that gets added to the WWW every day!

Craig is worth about $400M accoridng to Forbes with Craigslist generating about $40M per year. Craig considers himself a Customer Service representative. He has started something called Craig Connects, which "helps connect people of good will for the common good by highlighting nonprofits that are making an impact in Community Building, Journalism Integrity, Middle East, Open & Accountable Government, Service & Volunteering, Technology for Social Good and Veterans issues." These are the issues that he actively helps on: the VA, Mideast, journalistic integrity, democracy. Why? He wants to be part of something bigger. He believes in doing Social Good because It's the Right Thing to do. Is it easy? No. And he encouraged the audience to operate outside their comfort zone too. (Growth only happens when you are uncomfortable.)

Fact checking is important, according to Newmark. I agree and he gave the names of many sites that do that. Web 2.0 has certainly had an effect on shining the light in some areas. These sites grade non-profits: Charity Navigator, GreatNonProfits.org, and Guidestar. Also, Donors Choose. These check political facts or money: Politifact and Influence Explorer, [I would add Open Congress here and mention that Politifact is a project of the St. Pete Times newspaper, which is owned by the Poynter Foundation. Local pride for Tampa Bay!]

He is working with some crime fighting nerds to check grant apps and vet veterans groups. Craig worries about journalism (especially since media empires are crumbling), since the Fourth Estate is supposed to keep our Democracy in check. For our democracy to survive, the press has to have integrity and be diligent in fact checking. I'm not surprised that The Daily Show wih Jon Stewart does the best job of fact checking, according to Newmark.

Craig has his hand in many pies that all revolve around social good, customer service and doing what's right. I'll leave you with 3 quotes from his speech.

"Listen to people and then do something about it. That's customer service. Try to listen to everyone because even a disgruntled customer can be right."

"Working together for the common good - whatever your version of that is."

"Sunlight is the best disinfective for government."

It's Getting Out of Hand

2011-04-29T14:28:07Z

There was a big bruha over Apple's iPhone spying on its users. Now Tom Tom discloses that it provides data for public works, supposedly for traffic, but also about your speed. Nice. Buy a Tom Tom and they rat you out to the po-po. Privacy is long dead, but we have reached a new level of invasion. In an always connected, GPS and location-based service world, Corporate America is going to be collecting info on you and selling it. Period. It's worse than Big Brother or Skynet. George Orwell would even be shocked.

Progressive Mobile Tracker

2011-03-23T00:08:43Z

Image via Wikipedia

Progressive is pushing out an automobile tracker device called Snapshot. The device attaches to your car's diagnostic port and pushes data out via M2M. Consumers can log on to check out daily stats.

With Snapshot, Progressive’s Pay As You Drive® (PAYD) insurance program,
consumers can get a discount for insurance if they "drive less, in safer ways and during safer times of day". "Your driving snapshot includes the number of miles you drive, time of day you drive and how often you make sudden stops." Big Brother, anyone?

Progressive calls it a game changer. The industry has been using M2M devices like this to track employees' driving habits and where they are, but when you hit consumers with tracking, it seems way too nosy to me.

Applying Gary Vee

2010-01-07T17:38:21Z

Last night I got to listen to Gary Vaynerchuk speaking about Crush It (Amazon affilaite link), his new book. He talked about branding your business via online marketing, which is what has made him famous (via video blogging about wine on Wine Library TV). [You can see a 15 minute talk of his on YouTube].

His primary thought is that Content is King. So if you run a company and your company isn't blogging, shame on you. Who's telling your story if it isn't you? (I won't rant any more about the benefits of blogging - the SEO, the thought leadership, the storytelling about customers and employees).

Same can be said for social media. Gary V. says that 1 million people join Facebook per day. Like it, don't like it, you have to be in front of eyeballs - and FB is where the eyeballs are. So is Twitter. So is LinkedIn if you are hiring. It isn't so much about the platform as it is about utilizing that platform - twitter, FB, LI, blog - to tell your story. Story telling is what creates a brand.

Social Media is not about Talking. It's about Listening. Then engaging. Many companies are using social media for customer service (customer retention) and reputation management. Southwest, JetBlue, Comcast, and Gary Vee's favorite example, Zappos. Zappos is a game changer, because while most companies shirk customer service (don't believe me? find contact info on a website and get through that phone tree) and most call centers try to end the call in under 3 minutes, Zappos goes out of its way. It's at the heart of the culture of the company to provide excellent customer service. Zappos rewards employees who have the Longest call times. You know who else is that good? FreshBooks.

Gary Vee said that the Wal-Mart Era is ending. He says that we will now enter the Niche Era where small businesses will rule. However! However, there will be thousands of businesses doing what you do. I thought: We have that now in VoIP. Thousands of Hosted PBX companies and thousands of VoIP Providers. How do you Differentiate yoursef in your market? Gary vee says Content. (And customer experience).

Gary Vee pointed out that Word-of-Mouth (WOM) converts 70% of the time to a sale, while traditional marketing only converts 12%. That means that you need to be telling a clear concise story to your target audience (not everyone) that they can grasp and re-tell. The re-telling is the viral part, but that only happens when your story is compelling and the service was remarkable. (Think Purple Cow).

Gary Vee reminds us that documentation is increasing everyday. Everything is permanent. What is legacy are you leaving?

[You can read more about his talk here].

IS MPLS HIPAA Compliant?

2009-11-09T20:44:37Z

Speaking with Peter Davis, Partner Channel Manager in the Southeast for XO, about MPLS and HIPAA. XO recently held a webinar describing how their MPLS Solution can enable healthcare organizations to be HIPAA compliant.

The wording here is important. Transport is neither compliant or not. It is the end devices and users that must be HIPAA compliant. In other words, how the data is handled end-to-end has to be compliant, not the pieces and parts.

When speaking with Hospital HIPAA Administrators it is important to remember that part of compliance is security and part is procedure. The procedure part has to do with how all medical records (physical and virtual) are handled and secured, whether on-premise, in transit, at a data center, ona server or in a file cabinet.

With off-site data storage, the best solution for access is a private line, a Layer 2 VPN, or an MPLS network. Why? Segmentation of traffic. Security of data flow. Less chance for a lapse in security.

The data needs to be securely stored and backed up. EMR firms have to sell a fairly expensive proposition due to all the safeguards and redundancy that goes with accessing medical records from a remote server.

In many ways, the telecom agent can sell numerous pieces of the puzzle through XO (or other carriers or VAR's).

The transport - private line, metro Ethernet, Layer 2 VPN, or MPLS.
The data center - collocation for servers and networking gear
Data storage and backup

HIPAA is more involved with procedures in place (and to be followed) on the storage, access and security of medical records than on the technology used to secure, store or transport those same medical records.

If you are looking for more info on MPLS, XO has an MPLS video series on YouTube and TCA has a stored webinar for its members on its website.

Nothing but Headlines: DPI, Caps, Clearwire

2009-04-24T18:35:47Z

I'm seeing a lot of news in our space but not enough time to cover it all or analyze it, so here's just the headlines:

DPI (deep packet inspection) by cable being investigated by Congress. It scares the crap out of Boucher (ARS). Cox, Comcast, NebuAd = new privacy law being debated (NYTimes).

Broadband download caps: in the news all week because apparently TWC said that without caps, they won't upgrade any more. Well, I have news for them: if they don't upgrade they will lose customers. Can you say FiOS, WiMAX, U-Verse, and now Wildblue is testing 18MB service. ARS notes there are caps even when not explicit like TWC. VZW and others have usage limits built into the acceptable usage policy.

Clearwire is being sued - class action status - for ETF (early termination fees) and network quality issues (can you say: false advertising on network performance?). (see here and my twitter pal @morisy).

And speaking of Caps (no, not hockey :), how about Comcast battling it out with the former FCC chief's ruling that cable companies can only have a maximum of 30% of the entire market? If we applied that to telecom - and why shouldn't we? - we would have to break up Ma and Pa Bell (Verizon and AT&T). Please note: I am all for that. Meanwhile Comcast's defense is Freedom of Speech.

Lastly, Facebook exec becomes new CEO at MySpace. Too little, too late? And Yahoo is closing down GeoCities free hosting services, which it bought in 1999 for $3.5B. The analysis of the deal is on Fred Wilson's blog. Worthwhile read for start-ups about what VC deals look like.

NebuAd and Phorm

2008-12-03T16:16:10Z

Ouch! KMPH Fox 26 reports that, "More than a dozen Web users are suing a Silicon Valley startup that created technology allowing their surfing habits to be tracked. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco this week against NebuAd and six Internet service providers that used its product. The 15 plaintiffs are demanding more than $5 million in damages." NebuAd used Deep-Packet Inspection (dpi) to gather info of ISP customers to better target advertising. That upset users and it ended up in front of Congress. NebuAd execs jumped ship. So did clients. Same thing happened at the similar UK-based company, Phorm. Execs there jumped ship this week.